Patrick Karam is a doctor of political science, vice-president of
“
Free!
of the Ile-de-France regional council
.
He is also president of the Coordination of Eastern Christians in Danger (CHREDO).
In an interview granted on January 12 to local television channels, Ilham Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan, said of Valérie Pécresse's visit to the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic on December 22, 2021:
"If we had been to aware of Valérie Pécresse's last illegal visit, we would not have let him go
. By indicating that
“he would not have let
Valérie Pécresse go away”, what does Ilham Aliyev mean? That he would have arrested her, thrown her in prison? Tortured perhaps like those Armenian prisoners of war whose tattoos representing the cross are currently burned with a lighter to obtain their conversion?
Any threat from a foreign head of state to our fellow citizens is, in principle, unacceptable. A fortiori when it comes to a political leader in the countryside. Coming from anyone other than Aliyev, such behavior would be considered disturbing to say the least. But what to think when it comes from the leader of a country that is at the bottom of the pack in all the rankings of human rights organizations?
What to think, when Azerbaijan was condemned, on May 21, 2021, by the ECHR for violating
"the right to life"
of the Russian-Israeli blogger Alexandre Lapchine, extradited to Baku by the Belarusian dictatorship in 2017 on the grounds that he had precisely visited Nagorno-Karabakh, like Valérie Pécresse, then who was condemned for this fact to 3 years of imprisonment during which he suffered torture and attempted murder?
By showing on the spot her solidarity with the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh [...] Valérie Pécresse was part of the continuity of her long fight for the defense of Eastern Christians, freedoms and human rights .
patrick karam
What to think when this same president keeps around 180 Armenian prisoners of war in detention, in defiance of the law and of his commitments during the ceasefire agreement of November 9, 2020, in a climate of racist hatred and unspeakable treatment? ?
What to think when this same president, in this same interview, quite simply threatens to invade Armenia within 6 months, if it does not give in to his wishes concerning the opening of a corridor which would allow him to establish a terrestrial continuity with Turkey?
What to think, when he considers that military violence has definitively settled the question of Nagorno-Karabakh, and that he denies the Minsk group, co-chaired by France, the right to find a negotiated solution to the conflict?
What to think, when the head of this state already placed in 168th position out of 180 countries in the RSF ranking on freedom of the press is currently in the process of toughening his legislation against journalists?
Read alsoRenaud Girard: "Armenia-Azerbaijan: what path for peace?"
By showing on the spot his solidarity with the surrounded Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, cut off from the world, whom the Azerbaijani president wanted to
"hunt like dogs"
but who cling to what remains of their ancestral land after the genocide and the various pan-Turkish-jihadist raids, Valérie Pécresse was part of the continuity of her long fight for the defense of Eastern Christians, freedoms and human rights. Like some other French politicians - very few -, the President of the Ile-de-France Region went to Nagorno-Karabakh to see for herself the situation, testify and bring a message of hope to these besieged populations. .
And here it is today threatened by this dictator, without the French authorities reacting.
Can France allow this type of threat to hang over one of its leaders and, what is more, its candidates for the highest office without reacting?
patrick karam
Emmanuel Macron, who, at the start of the Aliev regime's military offensive against Nagorno-Karabakh, had denounced the actions of the Azerbaijani aggressor and the sending of 300 Syrian jihadists to the front by Turkey and had mentioned the overrun of a
“red line”
(a speech with little follow-up), can it remain “neutral” in the face of the importation of this violence, even verbal - at this stage - on the national territory? Can he tolerate that she touches one of his competitors, who had the courage to bring to Stepanakert the message that he himself held in front of the cameras a year ago?
By targeting Valérie Pécresse, one of our main political leaders, the Azerbaijani dictator is questioning the values of the Republic in the midst of the electoral period and is testing our national solidarity and our ability to gain respect.
Beyond all the partisan divisions, it is high time to diplomatically resist the Turkish-Azerbaijani aggressiveness...
patrick karam
Can France allow this type of threat to hang over one of its leaders and, what is more, its candidates for the highest office without reacting?
In the absence of excuses, wouldn't the least of things be to recall its ambassador to Baku and to expel that of Azerbaijan to France?
Beyond all the partisan divisions, it is high time to diplomatically resist the Turkish-Azerbaijani aggressiveness, which not only calls into question the right to exist of a sister nation - Armenia - but also claims to intimidate our political leaders.